Misfits' Trek by John BlackportMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
When I started reading this book I was under the impression that it was a Western, maybe along the lines of Zane Grey’s “Riders of the Purple Sage". Not having read any of the previous books I found the general scenarios very confusing from the first few pages, when I made the error of assuming that it was going to be set in Europe and/or the Middle East. Names like Zhukovsky, Tatreaux, Messina and Quassuk probably gave me that impression but I was able to correct that mistake as I read on. I was surprised to find, after reading quite a lot of pages, that it was a fantasy adventure and that it was part of a series.
Enter Rick Rivoire, the main protagonist of the story, who sets out to save his lover from execution, along with wagon loads of other prisoners. The book has plenty of the expected ingredients to be found in magical fantasy, such as all kinds of spells, ogres, elves and vampires. It contains a few morality issues, such as Rick’s fight against slavery and his rebellion against an oppressive government.
The setting for the story seems to be at a time when pioneers were busy colonising new lands, when slavery was still accepted and practised by the authorities in power, and when there was little, even no, religious freedom. There are endless battles, both big and small, with weaponry like pistols and cannons, swords and magic spells. I was intrigued briefly by the idea of “healing” spells for one’s comrades in arms, and wind, water and fire spells to cast at your enemies. It helped me to realise why there was so much fighting action in the book: no matter how many times goodies or baddies were fatally injured, or even killed, they would magically recover sooner or later and live to fight another day! “Another day – another battle”, became a personal mantra that kept playing at the back of my head throughout the story after a while. It was too exhausting and I longed for more exposition about the scenery or the characters. I was unable to connect with any of the characters because of this.
It has so much action that, unfortunately, I began to find it rather tiring. Even though the author’s skills of description are incredibly good there were many occasions when I found myself thinking, “Oh no! Not another (literally) bloody scene of violence with arms etc being ripped off.” As I acknowledged above, the book is extremely well written but there were two or three instances of strange grammatical application that left me a little confused. The whole feel of the tale was, for me, around two hundred years ago and I found some of the dialogue unapt, for example a response of “Fair enough” felt too modern at one point.
The book has a map, which normally I would welcome in a fantasy tale, but which was too small for this spectacle wearer even on my PC set to full-page. For newcomers to the series there is a useful glossary and various explanations, at the back off the book, of things like “The Maker’s Plan”. As usual with glossaries, however, I had to refer to it so often I lost the flow and impetus of the plotline, spoiling any enjoyment that began to creep in.
Perhaps I have been spoilt in the past with series like Gormenghast, Lord of the Rings and Dune, but I could not get into this book or connect with any of its characters. I think that you would have to be either a committed fan already or, maybe much younger than this reader, to appreciate this novel of Mr Blackport’s series.
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